Maoist rebellion: India's big security worry

By Bappa Majumdar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Maoist rebels in India are rapidly expanding their insurgency and could move from remote rural areas to cities, a top security official said on Tuesday.

The rebels are estimated to have 22,000 fighters, and have spread to more than 180 of the country's 630 districts from just 56 in 2001, government and independent data says.

"They have a very comprehensive plan to spread their tentacles into other parts of the country, including urban areas," M.L. Kumawat, special secretary (Internal Security) told Reuters in an interview.

"We now need highly specialised forces to deal with the sophisticated weapons they have. Our police forces will be capable, I cannot say they are capable to deal with them now."

Equipped with automatic weapons, shoulder rocket launchers, mines and explosives, the Maoists want to cripple economic activity. Last year they carried out at least 1,000 attacks, but most of these were in remote jungles and villages.

The Maoists, who say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless, control some of India's mineral-rich areas and operate in large swathes of the eastern, central and southern countryside.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist rebellion as one of the gravest security threats to India.

The Maoists have killed police and politicians, and targeted government buildings and railway tracks in an insurgency that has killed thousands since the 1960s.